Better
by Zero and Lurk
Summary: A shiny vulpix and the day she stopped being better.


Disclaimer: Same old song and dance, folks.

She knew she was the best. Everything about her was simply _better._ Her fur was a deep, dazzling, gold- not like that dirty red color the rest of her species had. Her eyes were peculiar, a strange thing among strange things- blue. A light, clear, blue that sparkled like the ocean. The fur was neatly brushed, so that the lightest touch would feel like velvet.

She was proud of this, because, normally a great battler like her wouldn't have time to be kept properly groomed. However, her trainer knew what his pokemon deserved, so he constantly checked his team for any sign of injury, illness, or-dare I say- tangles.

Well, there were other pokemon, but _they_ didn't matter. Her master kept them as a backup-though she couldn't imagine what type of situation in which she would fail. She was the _best_, after all. Even better than the venasaur that her master had had ever since he was six. Even though she was unevolved, she could still best the plant pokemon at any competition.

And so it would have it, that on this spring day, sun shining almost as beautifully as her pelt, she lay peacefully in the grass. Her master liked this spot. It was a nice, high cliff over looking the ocean. It was beautiful. He never let any of his other pokemon out alone. They weren't strong enough. While she rested, her master chatted with a group of trainers.

They were envious, she knew. Her master had won the league championships several times, and honestly, who wouldn't want a pokemon like her? No one.

No one…

She opened one eye lazily. There appeared to be a battle going on…her master had called out his meowth, while the other two trainers brought out a zubat and sandshrew.

Two on one. Unusual. But…wait. What was going on here?

She stood up abruptly. Her trainer looked worried…and the meowth was gone. She realized, with dawning fear, why the trainer with the zubat had an extra pokeball in his hand.

She rushed at the thieves, preparing a flamethrower in her throat. Her trainer was desperately holding onto his pokeballs, crying out with pain while zubat's supersonic strained his mind. The sandshrew, meanwhile, was making fierce scratch marks on her trainer's arms, trying to get at the pokeballs.

The fire was almost out of her mouth when the two thieves noticed her, and they dodged in the nick of time as she released it. It burnt the grass were they had been. Her master, meanwhile, had stopped standing still, and was running around disoriented as the zubat's supersonic grew ever louder.

It was quick. So quick, that it took a moment for her to realize what happened. One minute, her master was there, flailing around blindly, eyes screwed up in pain, the next…the splash of an object hitting water rang throughout the area. It was quite a high cliff, and there were rocks down at the bottom. Even if he had survived the fall, he wouldn't have survived the landing.

Something grabbed her. It was the girl with the sandshrew.

"Call in a casualty." She said, talking to her partner. "The boss doesn't like people getting killed, but she'll probably forgive us if we show her this little beauty." She tried to struggle, but the girl had her arms around her chest and neck too tightly. She could barely breathe, let alone cast an attack.

"Oh, and gimme that firestone in your pack. Yeah, I know you have one." As the boy started to protest, the girl added, "Oh, grow up. You're never gonna use it. Besides, a shiny ninetales will earn us more than a shiny vulpix."

The boy reluctantly handed over the stone, a flame burning brightly within it. As it was held close to her body, a sensation took over her. She was growing, her fur was changing…As soon as she could see again, she ran. The girl had let go of her sometime during the transformation, so she took her chance.

She was pretty sure she had lost them. At first they had ran after her, making their pokemon race ahead of them, but as she drew closer to the foot of the mountain, she found herself running in the woods, this way and that. Her mind seemed to have lost rational thought and was relying purely on instinct.

She didn't know when it was she had regained coherent thought- it might have been am hour, a day, a week…All that mattered was that they didn't get her.

She stared into the pond. A face she did not want to believe was hers looked back. The fur was a bland white, dotted with burrs and a few blood stains. She hoped those were from something she had killed (Her! Kill! What had she become!) and eaten back when her mind was on default. This wasn't right, the muzzle was too long, the tails too many…

But her eyes were the same…Blue, just as they always had been. Blue, like the sea where her master dropped to his death. Nothing was left for her…her master had been carrying his pokeballs with him when he died, and the thieves had taken the meowth. Her whole life, gone in a blink.

One day, she would get revenge. Revenge on the lot of them…but that day would not come soon, because, for once in her life, she was no longer better. And she had to become better to defeat them.

End

A/N: Longest story from me, and that's a bit sad. Ye gods, the things that go on in my mind…Side note, you'll know where the meowth ended up if you paid attention to the pronouns in the girl's dialogue.


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